The Mighty Macs is a 2009 film by director Tim Chambers. It stars Carla Gugino

Carla Gugino

Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...

 in the lead role of Cathy Rush

Cathy Rush

Cathy Rush was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972-1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972-1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive final four appearances in her six seasons with the school, attaining a 149-15 record. Rush was...

, a Hall of Fame women's basketball coach. The film premiered in the 2009 Heartland Film Festival

Heartland Film Festival

The Heartland Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. First held in 1992, its goal is to "recognize and honor filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life."In May 2007, Heartland...

 and was released theatrically in the United States on October 21, 2011 through indie film label Freestyle Releasing

Freestyle Releasing

Freestyle Releasing is an independent film studio founded in 2003, specializing in helping other people/companies to release their films theatrically for getting distribution fees...

.

Plot

In 1971, Cathy Rush

Cathy Rush

Cathy Rush was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972-1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972-1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive final four appearances in her six seasons with the school, attaining a 149-15 record. Rush was...

, a woman ahead of her time, takes a job as the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata College

Immaculata University

Immaculata University is a Catholic University on King Road in East Whiteland Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.-History:Immaculata was founded as Villa Maria College, a women's college in 1920. It was the first Catholic college for women in the Philadelphia area...

. Rush faces a challenge of trying to compete against perennial powerhouses. Seven members of the 1972 Immaculata championship team appear as nuns in a church scene.

Cast

• Carla Gugino
  Carla Gugino
  Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...
  
   as Cathy Rush
  Cathy Rush
  Cathy Rush was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972-1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972-1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive final four appearances in her six seasons with the school, attaining a 149-15 record. Rush was...
  
  
• Ellen Burstyn
  Ellen Burstyn
  Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
  
   as Mother St. John
• Marley Shelton
  Marley Shelton
  Marley Eve Shelton is an American film and television actress.Shelton began her acting career in her late teens, and appeared in several 1990s' television movies and shows. She made her film debut in the critically acclaimed drama Grand Canyon , and was cast in the films The Sandlot , Nixon , and...
  
   as Sister Sunday
• David Boreanaz
  David Boreanaz
  David Boreanaz is an American actor, television producer, and director, known for his role as Angel on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Special Agent Seeley Booth on the television crime drama Bones....
  
   as Ed Rush
  Ed T. Rush
  Ed T. Rush is a former professional basketball referee. He joined the NBA as a referee in 1966. In 1973, he left for the American Basketball Association, but returned to the NBA when the ABA merged with that league in 1976. Rush became the NBA's director of officiating in 1998, and served in that...
  
  
• Katie Hayek as Trish Sharkey
• Kim Blair as Lizanne Caufield
• Margaret Anne Florence
  Margaret Anne Florence
  Margaret Anne Florence is an actress, singer, and model based in New York City. Margaret Anne has been featured in major motion pictures, television, independent films, and on the New York stage. She frequently appears in national and international television commercials and print advertisements...
  
   as Rosemary Keenan
• Taylor Steel as Mimi Malone
• Kate Nowlin as Colleen McCann
• Meghan Sabia as Jen Galentino
• Phyllis Somerville
  Phyllis Somerville
  Phyllis Somerville, born 1944, is an American stage, screen, and television actress. Her most prominent role to date was in 2006 as the mother of the sexual predator played by Jackie Earle Haley in Todd Field's Little Children....
  
   as Sister Sister
• Tony Luke Jr as Salvator Galentino

Production

The movie was filmed in 2007, but not released until 2011 due to the difficulties of finding a distributor. The director, Tim Chambers, had a potential distribution deal with Disney, but turned it down because Disney wanted to add coarse language to earn PG rating, but Chambers preferred to go for a G rating. Chambers worked out a deal with Freestyle Releasing

Freestyle Releasing

Freestyle Releasing is an independent film studio founded in 2003, specializing in helping other people/companies to release their films theatrically for getting distribution fees...

, and the movie opened four years after completing the filming.